The Exploits Valley Salmon Festival in Grand Falls-Windsor began in 1985 as a three-day regional celebration in honor of the migrating Atlantic Salmon. A weekend of "Fish and Fun While the Salmon Run" was developed to enhance environ-mental awareness and focus attention on one of nature's most spectacular phenomena.

Today, the Exploits Valley Salmon Festival is a major international festival, attracting visitors from all over the world. From 1991 to 1998, the festival was selected by American Bus Association as one of North America's Top 100 Events. In recognizing the Salmon Festival, the A.B.A. acknowledges the contributions of volunteers, businesses and municipal leaders while praising the local flavor, community spirit and family focus of the event. 

The festival features regular events such as the  Salmon Dinner and the increasingly popular "Newfie Night" ­ highlighting the traditional foods and music of our great province. For many people, the highlight of the festival is the "Splash Concert" ­ a day long concert held at the Forestry Capital Pavilion on Centennial Field. This year, a new event, Neptune and Nectar... A Taste of Culture, is sure to add to the ever increasing popularity of the entire weekend.

Previous concerts have featured world class entertainment such as Waylon Jennings, the Rankin Family, Alannah Myles, the Irish Descendants and Great Big Sea.  Building on the reputation of the Salmon Festival, Grand Falls-Windsor has also held several other concerts such as Bon Jovi in 1995 and the Canada Day Beach Boys Concert in 1990.

To review a list of previous Salmon Festivals and the acts, check below:

1989    -                     Tommy Hunter

                                    Donna & LeRoy

                                    Anna McGoldrick (Church Road Park)

  1990    -                    Terry Kelly

  1991    -                    Trooper

                                    Rogues Gallery

  1992    -                    BTO

                                    Crash Test Dummies

                                    Jeff Dyer Band

                                    Irish Descendents

  1993    -                   Alannah Myles

                                    Waylon Jennings

  1994    -                   The Rankin Family

                                    Burton Cummings

                                    Irish Descendents

                                    Debbie Jordon

                                    Great Big Sea

  1995    -                   Blue Rodeo

                                    Stampeders

                                    Irish Descendents

                                    Ray Lyall

                                    Debbie Jordon

                                    Maximum 80

  1996    -                   Doobie Brothers

                                    Burton Cummings

                                    I Mother Earth

                                    Base is Base

                                    Spirit of the West

  1997    -                  Amanda Marshall

                                    Kim Stockwood

                                    Pamela Morgan

                                    Billy & the Bruisers

                                    Signal Hill

  1998    -                   Great Big Sea

                                    The Rankins

                                    Chantel Kreviazuk

                                    Philosopher Kings

                                    Wide Mouth Mason

                                    Sidelines

                                    Celtic Connection

  1999    -                  Crash Test Dummies

                                    Sky

                                    Matthew Good Band

                                    Johnny Swing Band

                                    Bucket Truck

                                    Signal Hill

                                    Versatile

  2000    -                   Blue Rodeo

                                    Damhnait Doyle

                                    Nazareth

                                    I Mother Earth

                                    The Main Event

            The Fables

  2001    -                  Nelly Furtado

                                    Tea Party

                                    Moffats

                                    Tom Cochrane

                                    Barnacle

                                    Crush

                                    Rod Jackson

                                    Timber

  2002    -                  Our Lady Peace

                                    David Usher

                                    The Fables

                                    Colin James

                                    Dr. Hook

                                    Barry Canning

                                    Timber

2003    -                      Great Big Sea

                                    Tom Cochrane & Red Rider

                                     Sam Roberts

                                     Swollen Members

                                      Bif Naked

                                      Timber

                                      Gear Box

2004      -                      Bryan Adams

                                     Colin James

                                      Crush

                                      Shaye

                                      Gob

                                      Simple Plan

                                      Barry Canning

2005      -                      The Tragically Hip
                                      Finger Eleven
                                      David Wilcox
                                      Brothers In Stereo
                                      Rod Jackson
                                      The Novaks

2006                                Live
                                        Billy Talent
                                        Kim Mitchell
                                        The Trews
                                        Theory of a Deadman
                                        Lou Gramm (former lead singer for Foreigner)
                                        The Fables

2007                                Bachman & Cummings
                                        Good Charlotte
                                        Alexisonfire
                                        Matt Mays and El Torpedo
                                        Classified
                                        Hey Rosetta
                                        Fuse